Blackstone buys $1M worth of Bitcoin ETF in first crypto bet

Blackstone, which bills itself as the “the world’s largest alternative asset manager,” disclosed its first-ever crypto-related purchase, buying shares in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

However, Blackstone’s investment, reported in a May 20 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, only totaled around $1.08 million — a fraction of the asset manager’s $1.2 trillion portfolio.

Blackstone reported holding 23,094 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) as of March 31.

The IBIT shares were added to Blackstone’s Alternative Multi-Strategy Fund (BTMIX), which holds $2.63 billion worth of assets, Google Finance data shows.

The filing shows Blackstone also bought 4,300 shares in crypto ATM operator Bitcoin Depot Inc. (BTM) for a total cost of $6,300 and spent $181,166 scooping up 9,889 shares of the ProShares Bitcoin ETF (BITO).

Despite its claim as an “alternative asset manager,” Blackstone has largely stayed away from crypto. In September 2019, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman said he liked the concept of blockchain but thought its use for money was “pretty odd.”

“[I was] raised in a world where someone needs to control currencies,” he said at the time.

He admitted he didn’t have much interest in crypto, citing difficulties understanding the technology.

Blackstone invests in everything from private equity, real estate and credit to infrastructure, hedge funds and insurance solutions.

According to Blackstone’s website, it had $37 billion worth of investable capital as of March 31.

Meanwhile, the state of Wisconsin Investment Board — one of the first state investment funds to provide Bitcoin exposure to US retirees — reported on May 15 that it liquidated all 6,060,351 of its IBIT shares worth $3.7 billion during the first quarter.

Flows keep coming in for BlackRock’s IBIT

BlackRock’s Bitcoin fund has not recorded an outflow in six weeks, since April 9, Farside Investors data shows.

It has seen a 20-trading-day streak of inflows during that time, bringing its total net inflows to over $46.1 billion since it launched in January 2024.

The Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARK) trail IBIT in all-time net inflows at $11.8 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively.